Discount shoe chain Shoe Zone has announced it is to float on the London Stock Exchange in a move that will value the business at around £100million.

The Leicester-based firm, which was founded by brothers Michael and Christopher Smith in 1980, runs 554 stores in the UK and Ireland and employs 4,100 staff.

The sons of one of the founders, chief executive Anthony Smith and chief operating officer Charles Smith are expected to pocket between £40million and £50million each from the sale of shares in the listing.

Listing: Shoe Zone's announcement that it will list on the London Stock Exchange follows a week after a similar announcement from Card Factory

It is the latest in a string of flotations in the retail sector in recent months, indicating growing confidence in the industry.

Other retailers to have floated have included Pets at Home and discount store Poundland.

Last week private equity-backed Card Factory announced it was looking to tap into the appetite for stock
market floats.

The
British greeting cards retailer, which is majority owned by private
equity firm Charterhouse Capital Partners, said it expected to raise
£90million in an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in May.

Both Card Factory and Shoe Zone hope to replicate the launch success of
other companies that have recently floated, including,
online fashion retailer Boohoo.com and AO.com - although some
of the internet-oriented players have seen their shares flounder amid a wider tech sell-off.

Shoe Zone sells over 20 million pairs of shoes a year, with average prices in its stores below £10 in 2013.

It posted pre-tax profits of £9.3million in the year to October 5, a 66 per cent increase on the previous 12 months on revenues of £193.9million.